Written by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali ~ Directed by David Semel
Cordy asks him if he'd like to come to the Bronze with her. However, Owen blows off Cordelia and asks Buffy if she'd like to come with him. She accepts but the problem of a prophecy is getting in the way of Buffy's social life. So, Buffy is stuck waiting in the graveyard with Giles that night waiting for the Anointed to rise. The Anointed is one who would rise from the ashes of five to lead the Slayer into Hell.
After Giles and Buffy wait for what seems like forever, and nothing happens, Giles lets her leave to go meet up with Owen. But, when she gets there, she finds that Cordelia has taken advantage of her absence and is dancing, very closely with Owen on the dance floor. Buffy is discouraged and leaves. Meanwhile, a shuttle bus holding five people crashes into a vampire in the middle of the road. As the driver gets out to check on the vampire, not knowing it's true identity, he steps into their trap. All are killed by the vampires.
The next day, Owen finds Buffy and asks her out. Xander watches on, upset by this. As Buffy is about to leave for the Bronze, Giles shows up with a newspaper, and the heading of five people who died. He insists that they go check it out, but she refuses and ends up going on her date with Owen. Giles goes to the funeral home alone and is met by a couple of vampires. He keeps them off with a cross, he runs into the funeral home and barricades himself inside. Willow and Xander find him and he gives them instructions to go get help while he tries to stay alive.
The two go off to find Buffy and get help. At the Bronze, Angel shows up, wondering why she's not with her friends and why she isn't doing something about the threat of the Anointed. Finally Xander and Willow find her and subtly tell her that there is trouble at the Funeral Home. Owen wants to go, but she tells him to stay. But, Owen follows them anyway and Buffy's unable to shake him at the Funeral Home. She puts her friends in charge of watching him and hides the three of them in a Observatory, hoping they'll be safe. Meanwhile, Buffy finds Giles, hiding on top of a corpse in a storage case in another room and is trying to explain the situation to him.
After barricading the door shut, the three discover the strange man from the bus is also in the room, as a vampire. They promptly remove all the furniture from the doorway, as the vampire has now broken down the only thing-a glass window-between him and the three. Running out, they find Buffy and she tells them to get out, while she tries to take care of the so-called Anointed. When she gets to the storage room where Giles is, for a weapon, she finds the vampire has followed her. He knocks Giles out and throws him at the incinerator. The fire is lit as Giles hits the button and crashes to the ground, unconscious.
Buffy fights with the vampire and is caught. But just then, Owen comes in and tackles him, setting Buffy free. The vampire slams Owen's head against a metal door of a storage case and lets him fall to the ground, supposedly dead. Buffy is furious that the vampire killed her date and fights with all her Slayer strength. She finishes him off by throwing him onto a slab and pushing him into the incinerator. It turns out that Owen wasn't really dead, just hit hard on the head. Buffy offers to walk him home, but he refuses and Willow and Xander make sure that he gets there safely.
The next day, Owen approaches Buffy wanting to go on another adventure. When she realizes he only wants to date her for her slaying, she turns him down, unwillingly. After he walks away, Buffy finds Giles and he tells her about how he was told he'd be a Watcher. Apparently he wasn't to keen on the idea and had much better plans in life. Thinking that they ruined the Master's fun by killing the Anointed Buffy and Giles are satisfied. What they don't know is that the anointed one did rise, and they didn't kill him. In the Master's lair, the Master welcomes a young boy...the Anointed.
